Literacy Resources

The first-ever collection of Anniiih/Gros Ventre narratives to be published in the Aaniiih/Gros Ventre language, this book contains traditional trickster tales and war stories. Some of these stories were collected by Alfred Kroeber in 1901, while others are contemporary, oral stories, told in the past few years. 

As with the previous titles in the First Nations Language Readers series, Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories comes with a complete glossary and provides some grammar usage. Delightfully illustrated, each story is accompanied by an introduction to guide the reader through the material.

The Aaniiih/Gros Ventre people lived in the Saskatchewan area in the 1700s, before being driven south during the 1800s to the Milk River area in Montana, along the USA/Canada border.

Educator & Series Information
This book is published in the Aaniiih/Gros Ventre language. An English glossary is provided at the back of the book. 

The Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools list recommends this resource for Grades 10-12 for these subjects: English Language Arts, Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.

Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.

Additional Information
120 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Compiled and Edited by Terry Brockie and Andrew Cowell
 

It's never too early to start teaching children their First Nations language, and Anishinaabe ABC Mazina'igan is a great tool to assist with learning.

This book is the second in a series by Language Facilitator, Wanda Barker. It is a great tool to assist with learning the Ojibwe language. Anishinaabe ABC Mazina’igan is filled with beautiful illustrations, Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe sentences and their English translations. The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the sentences associated with each letter.

This book can be used by students, parents and teachers, young and old.  It is written in the double vowel writing system and is intended to show the sequence of the Ojibwe alphabet.  The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the sentences associated with each letter.

Educator Information
This book is written in the Ojibwe language with a glossary at the back in Ojibwe and English. It is useful for anyone wanting to learn the Ojibwe language. 

It’s never too early to start teaching children their First Nations language, and Anishinaabemowin Alphabet is the perfect place to begin. This book is filled with beautifully shaded illustrations, Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe words and their English translations, and it can be used by students, parents and teachers young and old. It is written in the double vowel writing system and is intended to show the sequence of the Ojibwe alphabet. The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the word associated with each letter.

Educator Information
This book is written in the Ojibwe language.  An English translation for each word is provided at the back of the book.

The publisher recommends this book for children or anyone learning the Ojibwe language.

6 essential steps to foster the will to read

Introducing a 6-step approach for cultivating and growing complete readers who have the will to read! You'll learn how to help your students understand the value of reading, intimately know who they are as readers, and receive joy and pleasure from text. From sharing your reading life to getting to know your students to modelling the habits of a reader, you will find strategies to use to set the foundation for a classroom of enthusiastic readers. Powerful classroom anecdotes and ready-to-use reproducible activities support this highly readable book.

This beautifully illustrated book teaches the language of the Tahltan nation. The Tahltan alphabet is featured with the 47 sounds of the Tahltan language. Learners can match vowels, consonants and sounds to English equivalents and symbols. It is a resource for those who can already speak Tahltan, but wish to learn to read and write as well.

From the Preface:
The (Tahltan) Alphabet was developed by linguist Colin Carter in consultation with Tahltan speakers, Elders and language instructors...The (Tahltan) Alphabet...is phonetic, which means that every Tahltan sound is written with consistent symbols. This is different from the English alphabet where sounds can be written with various letters and combinations of them. The Tahltan alphabet is a summation of the 47 sounds of the Tahltan language. Carter and the Tahltan consultants decided to use English letters and represent specialized Tahltan sounds with more than one letter (eg dz, tl, ch) and other markings such as underlining, apostrophe and macron.

Educator Information
Recommended for Grades K-7 English Language Arts and courses in Indigenous language learning.

This book was coordinated by Edosdi Dr. Judy Thompson, developed by language leaders Angela Dennis, Regina Louis and Odelia Dennis, and illustrated by Una-Ann Moyer, Perer Morin and Tsema Igharas. The Telegraph Creek / Dease Lake dialect was contributed by Dah Dzahge Nodeside chair, Hostelma Pauline Hawkins in collaboration with fluent speakers Margery Inkster and Janet Vance from Telegraph Creek, BC. This book is produced with the intention to inspire future generations of Tahltan speakers and aid in Tahltan cultural sustainability.

Dr. Judy Thompson is an Assistant Professor in First Nations Studies at the University of Northern BC. Odelia Dennis teaches Tahltan as a second language to adults through the University of Victoria's Diploma in Indigenous Language Revitalization Program.

Additional Information
108 pages | 9.00" x 8.50" | colour and b&w drawings

Committed to embracing the power of oral language, Literacy Out Loud recognizes the important role "talk" plays in developing the reading and writing abilities that students need in school and beyond. The book offers strategies where oral language takes centre stage and is fostered through engaging activities. Literacy activities and events focus on all aspects of listening and speaking, and emphasize enjoyable, purposeful, social learning. The book argues that listening and speaking, or "talk," is at the heart of a vibrant classroom. It shows teachers how to nurture dynamic classroom talk that is essential in its own right, and makes all learning possible.

How can teachers best create a lively social network of literacy learning where talk is the foundation? How can classroom talk be encouraged and guided so that students become fluent and effective oral communicators? This book proposes everyday activities that will answer these questions, and many more.

Educator Information
The book offers strategies where oral language takes center stage and is fostered through engaging activities in K–8 classrooms. Literacy activities and events focus on all aspects of listening and speaking and emphasize enjoyable, purposeful, social learning.

Grade Range: K-8

Additional Information
128 pages | 8.40" x 10.80"

Do you feel exhausted after guided reading? Are you working tirelessly while your students aren't even breaking a sweat? Do you ever wonder if other teachers feel the same way you do about guided reading — that it's not working the way it should?

This thoughtful resource has everything you need to prevent guided reading from going astray in your classroom. The authors draw on 50 years of collective experience to present clarifications, adaptations, and supports that have helped them work their own trick parts as they guide readers. The book's 6 chapters each clarify a misunderstanding about a key area of the guided reading process. With 27 strategies, you're sure to find the help you need to work through your own challenges as you guide groups of readers.

Educator Information
Grade Range: K-5

Additional Information
130 pages | 7.00" x 9.20"

Read, Listen, Tell brings together an extraordinary range of Indigenous stories from across Turtle Island (North America). From short fiction to as-told-to narratives, from illustrated stories to personal essays, these stories celebrate the strength of heritage and the liveliness of innovation. Ranging in tone from humorous to defiant to triumphant, the stories explore core concepts in Indigenous literary expression, such as the relations between land, language, and community, the variety of narrative forms, and the continuities between oral and written forms of expression. Rich in insight and bold in execution, the stories proclaim the diversity, vitality, and depth of Indigenous writing.

Building on two decades of scholarly work to centre Indigenous knowledges and perspectives, the book transforms literary method while respecting and honouring Indigenous histories and peoples of these lands. It includes stories by acclaimed writers like Thomas King, Sherman Alexie, Paula Gunn Allen, and Eden Robinson, a new generation of emergent writers, and writers and storytellers who have often been excluded from the canon, such as French- and Spanish-language Indigenous authors, Indigenous authors from Mexico, Chicana/o authors, Indigenous-language authors, works in translation, and "lost" or underappreciated texts.

In a place and time when Indigenous people often have to contend with representations that marginalize or devalue their intellectual and cultural heritage, this collection is a testament to Indigenous resilience and creativity. It shows that the ways in which we read, listen, and tell play key roles in how we establish relationships with one another, and how we might share knowledges across cultures, languages, and social spaces.

Reviews
Edited by experts in Indigenous literature and contextualised beautifully, historical writers like E. Pauline Johnson are placed alongside exciting genres like Indigenous Science Fiction — illustrating the vibrancy and innovation of Indigenous storytelling across time, space and politics. If you want a primer on Indigenous cultural expressions, this is for you. If you want deft, detailed stories in Indigenous written, oral and graphic traditions, these will expand your thinking. Read, Listen, Tell will make you laugh, dream and search for more. — Niigaanwewidam Sinclair

A unique compendium that is the direct result of outstanding and painstaking scholarship, Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island is an impressively informative, deftly organized, and exceptionally well presented volume that is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Indigenous Cultural Studies collections and supplemental reading lists. — Midwest Book Review

Read, Listen, Tell collects a brilliant and vast array of indigenous short fiction, bolstered by insightful critical essays that prioritize indigenous voices, culture, and methodologies. — Clarissa Goldsmith, Foreword Reviews, July 2017

Educator Information
• Connects Indigenous writing across colonial settler borders (of Canada, USA, and Mexico) at a time when those borders are hardening in light of security measures.
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights focus on education, prioritizing Indigenous knowledges, pedagogies, and perspectives—this book provides that.
• Provides curriculum material for new Indigenous content mandates in some provinces (Ontario, BC).
• Includes French-, Spanish-, and Indigenous-language.
• Indigenous authors (in translation).

Additional Information
410 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"
Edited by Sophie McCall, Deanna Reder, David Gaertner, and Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill

Part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter asserts the vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of Indigenous peoples today. In considering the connections between literature and lived experience, this book contemplates four key questions at the heart of Indigenous kinship traditions: How do we learn to be human? How do we become good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together? Blending personal narrative and broader historical and cultural analysis with close readings of key creative and critical texts, Justice argues that Indigenous writers engage with these questions in part to challenge settler-colonial policies and practices that have targeted Indigenous connections to land, history, family, and self. More importantly, Indigenous writers imaginatively engage the many ways that communities and individuals have sought to nurture these relationships and project them into the future.

This provocative volume challenges readers to critically consider and rethink their assumptions about Indigenous literature, history, and politics while never forgetting the emotional connections of our shared humanity and the power of story to effect personal and social change. Written with a generalist reader firmly in mind, but addressing issues of interest to specialists in the field, this book welcomes new audiences to Indigenous literary studies while offering more seasoned readers a renewed appreciation for these transformative literary traditions.

Awards

• 2019 PROSE Award for Literature

As an Elder once said, "Learn one Cree word a day for 100 days, and emerge a different person."

In 100 Days of Cree, Neal McLeod offers us a portal into another way of understanding the universe--and our place within it--while demonstrating why this funny, vibrant, and sometimes salacious language is "the sexiest of them all" (according to Tomson Highway).

Based on a series of Facebook posts, the 100 short chapters or "days" in the book present a chain of related words, some dealing with the traditional--the buffalo hunt, the seasons--and others cheekily capturing the detritus of modern life--from Internet slang to Johnny Cash songs to Viagra.

The result is both an introduction to the most widely spoken Indigenous language in Canada and the opportunity to see the world, and ourselves, in another way.

Reviews
"The nonfiction book is divided into 100 themes and offers Cree words and English explanations for everything from traditional subjects such as powwows and medicine to modern subjects such as Facebook and Star Wars. It also includes a guide to pronunciation written by Arok Wolvengrey, a linguist and the author of a Cree-English dictionary. 'When we think about indigenous languages, there’s a part of us that thinks they’re dying languages, ' URP publisher Bruce Walsh said. 'And then this manuscript comes in that demonstrates a living, vital language.' McLeod said that he and Wolvengrey worked to keep a balance between traditional usage and modern adaptations. 'To revitalize our languages, we have to do two things: we have to document the classical terminology, because within that terminology are all of our metaphors and idioms; but we also have to think of how to put old words together, to coin words, to describe the contemporary world.'"  — Laura Godfrey, Publishers Weekly

Additional Information
325 pages | 5.50" x 7.00"

In Achieving Indigenous Student Success, author Pamela Toulouse provides strategies, lessons, and hands-on activities that support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners in the secondary classroom. Read chapters on topics such as:

• Indigenous Pedagogy and Classrooms Considerations
• Indigenous Self-Esteem and Mental Health Activities
• Differentiated Instruction and Bloom's Taxonomy
• Attrition, Retention, Transition, and Graduation Continuum
• Indigenous Themes and Material Resources
• Culturally Appropriate Secondary Lesson Plans by Subject (including English, Math, Science, History, Geography, Health, Physical Education, Drama, Music, Visual Arts, Technological Studies, Business Studies, Indigenous Worldviews, Guidance and Career Studies, and Social Studies and the Humanities)

This book is for all teachers of grades 9–12 who are looking for ways to infuse Indigenous perspectives into their courses. Ideas include best practices for retention/transition/graduation planning, differentiated instruction, assessment, and equity instruction. Using appropriate themes for curricular connections, the author presents a culturally relevant and holistic approach that helps to build bridges between cultures and fosters self-esteem in all students.

Additional Information

Designed as an introduction for Cree language learners, Beginning Cree acts as a self-study aid--a much-needed resource in today's world where most students cannot speak Cree fluently. Basic grammar units and everyday vocabulary items guide the student through the building blocks of the language, and expansion drills and exercises reinforce lessons and prepare the student for further study. With over 100 delightful illustrations, Beginning Cree grounds the language in traditional and contemporary contexts.

Educator & Series Information
This book is recommended for ages 12+.

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Nouns
Chapter Three: Prepositions and Pronouns
Chapter Four: Animate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Five: Inanimate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Six: Possessives: Kinship Terms
Chapter Seven: Transitive Inanimate Verbs
Chapter Eight: Transitive Animate Verbs
Verb Charts
Conjugation Patterns
Vocabulary List
Bibliography
Notes

The Canadian Indigenous Books for School list recommends this resource for Grades 1-12 for these subject areas: Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.

Part of the Indigenous Languages for Beginners series.

The book is specifically geared towards learners of the Plains Cree "Y" dialect, also known as the "Y" dialect.

Additional Information
165 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | black and white illustrations | spiral bound

In recent decades, educators have been seeking ways to improve outcomes for Indigenous students. Yet most Indigenous education still takes place within a theoretical framework based in Eurocentric thought. Teaching Each Other provides an alternative framework for teachers working with Indigenous students – one that moves beyond merely acknowledging Indigenous culture to one that actually strengthens Indigenous identity. Drawing on Nehinuw (Cree) concepts such as kiskinaumatowin, or "teaching each other," Goulet and Goulet demonstrate how teachers and students can become partners in education. They provide a template for educators anywhere who want to engage with students whose culture is different from that of the mainstream.

Additional Information
256 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Creative ways to use the garden to inspire learning, for kids ages 4-8

Packed with garden-based activities that promote science, math, reading, writing, imaginative play, and arts and crafts, The Garden Classroom offers a whole year of outdoor play and learning ideas—however big or small your garden.

Every garden offers children a rich, sensory playground, full of interesting things to discover and learn about. There's a whole lot of science happening right before their eyes. The garden can also be a place to develop math and literacy skills, as the outdoors offers up plenty of invitations to weave learning into everyday gardening. The garden classroom is a place where plants grow, and where children grow too.

Additional Information
232 pages | 7.02" x 8.50" | Paperback

"Who am I?" This is the question that many adolescents ask during the turbulent middle and high school years. In Worth Writing About: Exploring Memoir with Adolescents, Jake Wizner addresses how searching for the answer to this question leads his students to reflection, to reading, and ultimately to deeper, more meaningful writing.

Based on his experience teaching eighth-grade English for nearly two decades, Jake believes that a well-designed memoir unit not only aligns with the Common Core State Standards but also forges community in the classroom, encourages kids to read nonfiction, and works wonders with students who struggle with their writing -- or with their lives.

Worth Writing About addresses the most common challenges teachers face when teaching memoir writing: How do you help students who say that nothing interesting has happened in their lives? How do you help students balance what is meaningful with what is too personal to share? How do you help students overcome the "I don't remember" syndrome?

Jake -- who has published a young-adult novel and often shares his own writing with his students -- also delves into the craft of writing, from using mentor texts to crafting leads and memorable endings. He uses student models from his own classroom to show the deep, important work his students produce during the memoir unit.

The memoir unit gets kids to write about real stuff -- the things that matter to them. In the process, Jake believes, they learn more about themselves, their relationships, the way they view the world, and how they want to move forward into the future.